Unsolved Falcon BMS stop reading some buttons via Leo Bodnar card
-
Hi everybody, since upgrading to 4.37.3 I have discovered some strange behaviour when mapping buttons via Leo Bodnar cards in BMS. Although I’m not sure it is related to the upgrade, but I hope I can get some feedback on my problem. First of all I have used several Leo Bodnar card for 2 years wit no problem. I have 6 of BU0836X 12-bit joystick interface and, 3 of BBI-32 Button Box Interface. I used 4.37.0 with no problem, but then I got in trouble with the old updater and I uninstall new and forgot to save the key file. This made me do a re-mapping in the new 4.37.3. HERE IS WHERE I RAN IN TO THE STRANGE BEHAVIOUR. I discover that when mapping in BMS there was some buttons that was not discovered in the mapping process. BUT the the windows joystick program discovered the very same button. I play around with changing the digital input and some times to another Leo Bodnar card. Eventually I did come around the first panel and save my key file.So far , so good. But the very next day there was some buttons that did not work AGAIN ( I belive it was the same buttons , but not 100% sure. what can cause the windows to discover a button, but NOT BMS ?
se 10 sec video here:
-
Another discovery, the missing Buttons often happens when one button is recognised in one LB card, and the next button to be mapped (that is missing) is in another LB card
-
-
-
@DeeJay do these “undiscovered” buttons work in the cockpit? I’m not using Bodnar (will probably get their 64-button board next year, it’s out-of-stock at the moment) but I’m using PoKeys and sometimes when mapping DX inputs or even keypress inputs, it’s a hit-and-miss when testing in the AL and even in the Setup UI page, so I always confirm testing in the cockpit.
-
@Atlas Not sure if you refer the cockpit as the virtual cockpit on a screen ?. I only use a physical cockpit and my problems appear when I use the physical switches in the physical cockpit via the LB card. The LB card is very nice and super easy to use. I have read here on the forum that my Problems probably is the Alternative Launcher, so I upgraded too day to the latest v2.4.1.5. then all “missing buttons” on the BU0836X 12-bit joystick interface came to life. How ever I still have problem with the BBI-32 Button Box Interface. So my problem defiantly relate to the Launcher, like many other reports here on the forum. The problems seams to only relate to some buttons, especially on-of-on buttons and special buttons I have made from a dual switch connected to a rely that function as a on-on-on switch. Its frustrating that they have worked with version without the Alternative Launcher. Here you can see my PIT:
![IMG_6583.HEIC](File type invalid (1)) -
I’m one of the devs working on improving the Alt Launcher.
As a tenet I definitely want to get it to a point where we stop telling hardcore pitbuilders to “avoid Alt Launcher / define key files manually”
If you’re willing to help me understand what’s going wrong, I’m willing to fix or improve AL to work better for this scenario.
(badass pit btw!)
-
@airtex2019 Hi thanks for your reply, and my deepest gratitude to those of you who work with improving the BMS.
In 4.36 the old SETUP was working fine. in 4.37 Im confused because the AL can read the DX command and the traditional SETUP cannot read DX ( at least some of them) So earlier in 4.37.0 I mixed between the AL and legacy SETUP by creating most Buttons binding in AL. Then I renamed the Auto file in the legacy SETUP and added the buttons AL did not cope with. Then when all switched was completed in my PIT I went back to AL and checked the box to not overwrite the key files. And that was a bit work, but I manage it. Now I have used several days just to find out what causes my problem. And I
m basically on my way to re- do the same procedure now in 4.37.3 with the latest AL v2.4.1.5 , BUT I´M NOT THERE YET.
For the moment it seems like the Leo Bodnar BU0836X 12-bit joystick interface can handle the latest AI, (not sure yet.I will dig deeper. But the LB BBI-32 Button Box Interface can not handle every switch for sure. I do belive the combination with some switches with the LB card. and the problems seem to be on the “on-of-on” and “on-on-on” switches. especially if the “on-on-on” switch is mixed between two different LB card ( this worked fine before the AL came) -
I want to try to de-confuse a few things.
1- there really is no “traditional SETUP” unless you mean hand-crafting a key file.
the “Setup / Controllers” screen in the 2D menus hasn’t been touched much in the past 20 years, and it barely works – I certainly would not use it or rely on it for anything.
2- I don’t know anything about LB cards and such … but the logical interface presented by the OS is quite simple – there are HID devices, each of which may expose up to 128 buttons… the buttons can be ‘on’ or ‘off’ at any point in time.
that’s all there is to it.
physically, you can arrange buttons to look like a 3-way switch (which is really 2 buttons and the middle position is “both off”)
or a 4- or 5-way mode-selector knob, where exactly 1 button of a group of N buttons is ‘on’ at any moment.
AL supports both of those scenarios. but the UI to do it is not super intuitive, I admit, so feel free to ask here if you can’t figure it out. I should record a short video for some of these more advanced use cases, maybe.
-
@DeeJay are you using the AL for the first time? Did you initially configure your cockpit the “old fashioned” way?
I used to do everything on the key file I was using, making my own custom one so I don’t mess with the default key files. I kind of resisted the AL for some time as well but at the moment, I’ve surrendered and doing everything via the AL. As the devs seem to feel that using the AL is the way forward, I would suggest using it so at least we can be roughly on the same page.
@DeeJay said in Falcon BMS stop reading some buttons via Leo Bodnar card:
Not sure if you refer the cockpit as the virtual cockpit on a screen ?. I only use a physical cockpit and my problems appear when I use the physical switches in the physical cockpit via the LB card.
I mean when mapping controls and “testing” them, it’s hit-and-miss when testing via AL or even the Setup UI screen so what I do is I go into the 3D world and look at the virtual cockpit and make sure that the virtual switches/knobs react correctly when the physical switches/knobs are activated. Sometimes I may miss a key modifier or mix up the “up” and “down” states of a switch.
@DeeJay said in Falcon BMS stop reading some buttons via Leo Bodnar card:
and the problems seem to be on the “on-of-on” and “on-on-on” switches
I don’t have on-on-on switches or even if I do, I don’t connect the middle -on- state as that saves me one pin on my PoKeys board. For switches that have 3 states, I map them like this:
As you can see, even my on-off or on-on switches (position switch), I only use one pin.